Legislative Update -- October 10, 2019
October 11, 2019
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The ILA Public Policy Committee met October 7 and discussed areas of potential legislative focus for the upcoming spring session in the Illinois General Assembly. The fall veto session, during which the legislature can consider overriding proposed laws the Governor vetoed, is approaching. The Governor vetoed relatively few bills this year (8 out of 599 that passed), so other than continuing to refine details of the budget, particularly with regard to cannabis and gaming revenues, the veto session is expected to be quiet.
Areas of potential legislative focus for ILA include net neutrality, now that a U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC's lifting of net neutrality protections can stand but that the FCC could not bar states from taking action; the lifting of a barrier to municipal libraries wishing to merge into library districts; advocating for increased state funding for libraries in the 2021 budget; continued efforts toward media literacy legislation in cooperation with AISLE; and refining the definition of "personal identifiable information" with regard to patron privacy and self-hold pickups. Please see below for an ILA Best Practices Committee survey on the topic of self-hold pickups. ILA aims to take a comprehensive approach to this, working with the Illinois State Library on proposed legislation and also offering informed guidance to our members.
We are continuing to examine opportunities for libraries in areas with Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. Please see an updated explanation of existing law for public library districts (not municipal libraries or libraries of other types); while the law allows for libraries in areas with TIF districts, under certain limitations, to receive a portion of the tax increment revenues, there is not an articulated process in place for how to go about this. If you have a success story about working with your municipality to receive TIF revenue, please contact ILA Executive Director Diane Foote. We are working on providing guidance to public library districts wishing to seek TIF revenue.
Got an idea for ILA's Public Policy Committee to consider? Use the "Contact Us" button on PPC's webpage to let us know. The committee meets next on November 4.
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